This Technical Assistance (TA) project provides consultative support and know how transfer on legal, strategic, institutional and capacity building aspects which underpin the regional development policies of the government. This cooperation is based on Financing Agreement signed between the European Union and the government of Kazakhstan in June 2011. The project is divided into four components. Component 1 of the project supports the development of the national level regional policy framework within which all regional development actions in Kazakhstan will be implemented. This Component 2 provides foundations which will allow specific regional planning and public service delivery actions to be carried out in a coherent and integrated way and build quality assurance systems into their delivery. Component 3 aims at the improvement of the implementation of regional development strategies in three pilot oblasts that have been selected by the consultation between the European Union and the Government of Kazakhstan. These are Mangystau oblast, Kyzylorda oblast and East Kazakhstan oblast. The socio-economic structure, natural resource base, infrastructure and skills base of those three regions differ significantly. This diversity can provide an excellent mix of relevant examples of good practice to the other regions in Kazakhstan. Component 4 is a horizontal set of training activities, which underpin the implementation of all of the activities above. The creation of a national level regional policy framework (Component 1) is supported by means of a capacity building programme for key national level stakeholders such as the Ministry for Regional Development, Economic Research Institute, the Centre for Performance Assessment, the Agency for Civil Service, etc. Indeed, a crucial part of that framework is, in fact, the development of an adequate training architecture that is capable of serving the training needs of stakeholders at national and regional levels.

Outcome:

The specific aims of Component 1 are to: review and propose improvements to strategies, legislation, regulations and actions plans for regional development and regional governance; establish and pilot local government monitoring and performance assessment systems in the three pilot regions; enhance institutional capacities of the Centre for Regional Policy under the Economic Research Institute; build the capacities of oblast (Maslikhat) Accounts Committees. Component 2 operates within the overall policy framework to support the regional authorities in the design and management of development strategies in our three pilot regions. This Component addresses all aspects of Programme Cycle Management (including programming, programme management systems, funding arrangements, monitoring and evaluation systems, etc.). It provides expert advice on specialist regional development problems and in the design of regional projects for funding. A key element of Component 2 is the assurance of strong citizen participation in all stages of the programme cycle. Component 3 helps improve strategy development and implementation processes (planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring, evaluation) and mechanisms for public participation in decision-making at regional level. The assistance concentrates on the technical entities at the operational level (the “akimats”), but also on the political level (the “maslikhats”). The specific aims are to: create a long-term strategy for the development of an operational support system (OSS) and with a corresponding master plan for its implementation; build individual and institutional capacities to perform the various functions of the OSS; introduce modern technologies and management tools in the delivery of services by OSS; improve citizens’ access to the services of the OSS; ensure that non-pilot regions share in the benefits of the project’s work in the participating oblasts. The overall aim of Component 4 is to develop a sustainable qualification system for regional development actors at national and pilot oblast level. It supports the implementation of the other three Components and strengthens their overall impact.